ALL WET: As a resident of “Marshburg,” we have a natural
affinity to May as it is National Wetlands Month. This village
comes by its name honestly and can be reliably damp even though it
sits atop a hill in Corydon Township, partially within the
Allegheny National Forest.

Mary Hosmer, a spokesman for the National Forest, is the one who
told us about this special designation of National Wetlands Month
and reminded us that “wetlands” are more than what we used to think
of as a swamp or marshland.

She writes, “The spring peepers PEEP-ed in a continuing
crescendo. I put the binoculars down for a minute to gather a wider
view of where the blue herons had been feeding. They had flown from
the pond to, most likely, go back to their rookery. The sun was
setting behind me. The pond would soon be shaded in dark. But right
now, the pond and adjacent wetlands were bathed in the yellow glow
of setting sun. I could see the ducks all the way across the pond.
A lone hawk perched on the barkless limb of a tree killed by high
water, looking for that evening meal of muskrat or mouse.”

In the past, wetlands were thought of as wastelands to be
drained, filled, or somehow gotten rid of. As a result,
Pennsylvania has lost more than 50 percent of its wetlands since
1900.

But what are wetlands? Wetlands can be lakes, ponds, banks of
rivers and streams, bogs, marshes, or wet, grassy areas. The way to
think of wetlands is that at some time of the year they hold water,
and produce plants that needs water at some time of the year.

Wetlands serve as giant filters that purify water as it strains
through the marsh or leaf litter near a stream. Wetlands slow down
the water which decreases flooding. Wetlands support the most
biologically productive natural ecosystems in the world – snakes,
salamanders, some warblers, the great bittern, and rails.

Fishing, boating, canoeing, hiking along the shoreline, or
hunting waterfowl from a duck blind are tied together by their
proximity to wetlands.

If you live near a wetland, leave a buffer of plants 25 to 50
feet wide from the edge of the wetland during mowing. This
“riparian buffer” will allow native vegetation to establish,
provides a home for wildlife, and improves water quality.